Shadows of Haven
by WhiteIce
Summary: When a Marine's body is found, Tony and Ziva must go to a community that lives alone in the woods. But as the stakes get higher, betrayals are made and nothing is what it seems... Tiva Romance and Gabby Friendship
1. Chapter 1: Prologue

**This is my disclaimer for this whole story. I don't own NCIS or the quotes that I use at the beginning of the chapters. And enjoy the story!**

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_Death is peaceful, easy. Life is harder._

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How did her life get this way? She had fought for her country, by some miracle had come out alive – and now this was happening. All she wanted was to get home to her Ricky – who had waited for her for over two years, and marry him. She wanted to have his child and live a peaceful life with him.

She sure as hell didn't want this.

She ran blindly through the forest, but knew it was no use. They were coming up behind her, and fast. She saw their shadows through the trees, bearing down on her, closing her in. She tried to outrun them, but suddenly felt a cold hand closing around her ankle, making her fall to the ground. Another hand came upon her other ankle. She whimpered at this sudden, unwelcome touch - and determination suddenly overcame her. She was _not _going to die this way. She was a Navy Marine and she would _not_ go down crying and pleading. Kicking out at the hand, she heard a cry behind her. Getting up, she ran as hard as she could until she heard something.

Water.

Sweet, wonderful, cold water that could sweep her up and take her to a place far, far away from here. Or could refresh her and strengthen her enough to fight against her attackers. Already, she could see the forest began to fade away to hard, craggy rock and clear night air.

Dead end.

The water she had heard was a waterfall, hundreds of feet tall. The water crashed its way down unmercilessly.

And she was at the top of it all.

But – there was no other way out. Despair overcame her and she bent down, putting her hands to her knees, allowing herself to draw in a few ragged breaths. Then drew herself up. Proud, strong.

If she was going to go out, she was going to go out on her own terms.

She raised her arms up to the sky, like a diver would. Permitted herself to have one last thought of her fiancé – the wonderful man she would never see again. Took a long, deep breath. And then she began to run to the tip of the rock, to dive with the graceful precision of a swan.

Out of the corner of her eye, as she was making this run, she saw a man, jump towards her. His hand became entangled in her hair, his arm wrapped around her side… But she twisted in a fluid, almost graceful motion, and continued to run. Finally she was there. She jumped over the edge and let the nothingness take her –

But then, as she began to fall, she felt something hard catch her and she realized it was the man – he was pulling her back, back to the land of the living, of _them_ –

A wild, feral scream ripped through her into the night air – with no one but her enemies to hear it.


	2. Chapter 2: Meetings and Marks

**Thank you to all who reviewed the story! I hope you continue to enjoy it!**

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"_I keep six honest serving men (they taught me all I knew); Their names are What and Why and When and How and Where and Who."_

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"Ten bucks."

"Nope."

"Twenty? Thirty?"

"DiNozzo what kind of woman do you think I am? And you two, for helping him! I'm ashamed of you Ziva, McGee!"

"Abby, all we're asking you to do is go one day without your Caf-Pow. Just a little science experiment."

"Nothing doing."

"Fine, guess we're going to have to go to the next best thing. Ziva, hold her! McGee, grab the cup and run!" Just as the words left his mouth, a hand slammed into the back of his head with unnecessary force. "Ouch, just a joke, boss."

"Gibbs!" Abby grinned and skipped to his side. "Thanks for coming to my rescue. They were trying rob my of my daily caffeine intake. And you know what I'm like when I lose my caffeine." Her full lips moved into a teasing pout.

"Don't you three have work to do?" Gibbs glared at them, causing them to shrink back slightly. Mumbling apologies, they left the lab.

"What do you have for my today, my silver haired fox?" Abby said, snagging another Caf-Pow cup out of Gibbs' hand.

"A few more things of the Marine that Tony forget to bring down to you today. I guessed he wasn't coming back for them after he disappeared for 20 minutes."

"He was trying to get McGee and Ziva to contribute some money into the "Making Abby Give Up Her Caf-Pow" bank. I'm just about to start the tests now, so if you want to come back in a few more hours with another Caf-Pow…"

"I'll see you later, Abby."

* * *

"I told you we should have gone in there when Gibbs went home."

"Well I didn't actually think she would have been that possessive of her Caf-Pow!"

"And you realize this is Abby you are talking about? The one you have worked with for how many years?"

All three of the agents fell silent when they saw Gibbs come back, immediately resuming their work. Just as he sat down at his desk, the phone rang. Sighing, he picked it up.

"Gibbs." He listened silently for a few minutes on the other end, and put the phone back down. "Gear up and pack your insect repellant."

"Insect repellant?" Ziva muttered.

"Must be going out to the woods somewhere." McGee said.

Tony laughed. "Yep, I'm sure those mosquitoes are going to get a good meal out of you, McGee."

* * *

"Stupid bugs." Tony swatted at the little black insects that appeared to be following him everywhere.

"And yet, it seems they only like you. Nobody else has been bit." Ziva was unsuccessfully trying to hide a laugh.

"His big head alone is enough for those bloodsuckers." McGee chuckled until Tony's hand smacked into the back of his head.

"Whoops. Sorry Probie, thought there was one on the back of your head." Suddenly his head turned. "Wow." Tony's attentions were distracting by a tiny woman walking towards them.

"Agents of NCIS. Welcome to our community. We are overjoyed by your visit, but mourn the reasons for why you have come here." The woman stared up at them, her green eyes wide as she stared at them all.

"Community?" Tony had somehow sidled up to the woman. "You mean people actually live out here, miles away from civilization?"

The woman nodded, her white hair cascading down her back as she did so. "Yes, we believe it gives our lives new meaning and simplicity."

Tony grinned at her, laying on the charm. "You know, I really admire that…"

Ziva rolled her eyes and began to make her way through the trees, where she could see other people gathered. They seemed to be looking from a distance at something, and as Ziva began to walk closer she saw Gibbs kneeling over a body.

"You're giving the people quite a shake-up." She said softly as she knelt down next to him.

"They're not interested in me – they're interested in Lisa Kurgon. Look." Ziva turned her head to look down at the body, and almost gasped. What must have been a beautiful woman was now completely disfigured, her body a dark, charcoal black. She had been burned to death.

"Well, this is rather fascinating." Ziva looked up to see Ducky standing behind her, an eager expression on his face. "It's been quite some time since we've had a burning, isn't it Jethro?" Ziva noticed that the villagers were backing away from Ducky.

"Yes, wonderful." Tony had come over too, along with the woman he had been talking to. She smiled slightly at him, and Tony grinned back at her. Ziva couldn't help but notice the way her bright green eyes sparkled at him. With a disgusted grimace, she turned back to her work.

* * *

"Abby."

"Oh! Gibbs, okay, now I've got the lab results and – That doesn't look like a Caf-Pow."

"That's because it's not."

"Darn it." She muttered.

"I've got another case for you."

"Two cases at once for you guys, don't you think that's kind of rough? And don't you think I deserve a Caf-Pow for all this roughness?"

"We found the murderer just before we caught the call for this case. The only thing that evidence will do is be useful to us in court. This one on the other hand – it's more tricky." Gibbs handed her a bag with just one darkened, twisted object in it. "See what you can make of this."

"Fine. But next time - "

"I know, Abbs."

* * *

"Jethro, right on time."

"How's our victim, Duck?"

"She's a puzzle, my friend. I was examining her and look what I found." He pulled back a bit of the sheet to show blackened skin.

"I know she was burned, Duck, I was at the crime scene too, remember?"

"I know, I know. But look." Ducky pointed a seemingly plain patch of black skin. It wasn't until Gibbs leaned in that he saw what Ducky was talking about.

"This is going to complicate things a bit."

There, on the skin, was a symbol. Gibbs didn't recognize it, but just looking at the odd shape gave him a chill. It was slightly sinister in the blackened skin of Lisa Kurgon.

Just as he thought these words, Ducky pulled back the sheet all the way to reveal a completely charred body with symbols, all different, all completely unknown to him.

So much for an easy case.

"Leave the body like that Duck, I'm going to call the others."

* * *

"You think it was a sacrificial ritual?" Tony hid his disgust well, but he couldn't hide the slight grimace when he looked down at the body. "Burned alive?"

"Possibly. Or maybe it was a message for us." Ziva too looked down at the body, but unlike Tony, no emotion was present on her face.

"I've got all the symbols I can make out on this body. I'm running them through the computer now, Boss." McGee glanced over at Gibbs, who was still staring down at the body, examining the strange marks.

"It is odd. If the body was burned with the symbols on it, then wouldn't the symbols not be as easy to see as they are now?" Ziva remarked, looking to Ducky.

"Yes, I thought of that. The body was probably burned before, then marked with the symbols."

"Well, that certainly makes things easier. Little community, all alone and out in the middle of nowhere, no one would see the fire."

"Hey!" Tony barked. "Maybe someone in the community didn't do it. Maybe the murderer decided to drop the victim out in the woods."

"And this comes not from the fact that you spent all our time at the crime scene with that girl?"

"Woman, Zee-va. She's only a few years younger. It's just her height that makes her look like that."

"Do you even know her name or was she just a victim of your awful flirting?"

"Astrid Slen. Lived with the community for her whole life, knows every inch of the grounds, didn't hear anything about the dead Marine until she saw people clustered around the body. See, I can do my work and flirt, too? Bet you wish you could say the same, huh McGee?"

"You better not be flirting with her the whole time you are working, DiNozzo."

"Why, are we going back?" Ziva resisted the urge to roll her eyes when she heard the eagerness in Tony's voice.

"You and Ziva are. I'm leaving you with the community until you figure out what is wrong with that place."


	3. Chapter 3: Plunge

_Some say the world will end in fire,_

_Some say in ice._

_From what I've tasted of desire_

_I hold with those who favor fire._

_But if it had to perish twice,_

_I think I knew enough of hate_

_To say that for destruction ice_

_Is also great_

_And would suffice._

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Astrid certainly seemed happy to have Tony back. Her green eyes grew wide and an exhilarated smile appeared on her face when Gibbs had explained to the village Elders (who were essentially the mayors of the community, Astrid had whispered to them). The Elders listened with unreadable faces as Gibbs had told them that Ziva and Tony would be staying in the village to see if they could weed out the killer.

"And why," one of the Elders asked, turning his light blue eyes on Ziva, "could you not just send someone undercover, to be more inconspicuous?"

"Actually, it really doesn't make much of a difference." Tony said, walking forward. "After all, these are people that they've lived with their whole life. Someone's going to notice if a friend or relative they've known for forever is acting weirdly. And it's best they know to come to us for help. If someone tries to run away from the crime, then someone will notice they're gone and, again, come to us.

"Or, if worst comes to worst, we'll just interrogate everyone, and hopefully that if someone in this community did it, they'll just confess." As Tony was speaking, Ziva shifted from foot to foot, feeling uncomfortable. There was something about the Elders' eyes that seemed to bore into her, staring into her soul. She wondered if Tony was feeling the same discomfort, or if she was just overreacting.

Suddenly, all of the Elders stood up as one. As if on some unspoken agreement, they were crossing to a door next to them. One of the Elders stayed to address them.

"Agents of NCIS, we need to have a few moments to discussion on the possibility of you staying with us."

"Who wants to tell the guy our bags are already here?" Tony whispered to her, resulting in her heel slyly pressing down on his foot. "Ow."

"Please wait for us. In time, we shall inform you of our decision." The man gestured to Astrid, and it was only then that Ziva noticed that his shade of snow white hair exactly matched Astrid's. "Daughter, come." Ziva watched Astrid flounce into the door after her father, shaking her hair and giving Tony an alluring smile.

Ziva tried to ignore Tony smile back.

* * *

"Ducky, have you seen Gibbs?" Abby skipped into Autopsy, nimble even in her heavy combat boots. "I sent out my telepathic "I've found evidence" signal a half hour ago, and he still hasn't come to my lab. I even went tried to call his cell, but no response. And I'm running out of Caf-Pow energy. I need more."

"You're a bit late, my dear." Ducky looked from Lisa Kurgon's body to address the forensic scientist who was dancing around the room. "He left for Haven a little while ago."

"Haven?"

"That's the official name of the community that they are investigating." Ducky pressed his lips together in frustration as he stared at Lisa's bare arm, covered in the cryptic marks. "What are you hiding from us, my dear?"

"Hiding? I'm not hiding anything? Except for that new tattoo I just got and I was waiting for the right time to mention it and-"

"Not you, Abigail. Miss Kurgon."

"Oh." At this, Abby flitted over to examine Lisa with him. She stared at Lisa's arm, then her eyes widened and she looked over to Ducky.

"I've seen these marks before."

* * *

Ziva looked around the cabin room that was currently her new home for who knew how long. The Elders, after forty minutes of unknown discussion, had agreed to let Tony and Ziva stay in their community. They looked a bit uneasy still, and Ziva didn't blame them.

After all, she thought to herself with a smirk, they probably think that Tony is going to marry Astrid by the looks she was giving him this afternoon. She shook her head and in an effort to try and distract her thoughts from Tony and a besotted young woman, Ziva once again turned her attention to her surroundings.

In all honesty, they weren't really that bad, just simple. It was just a one room cabin, furnished with a large bed, a bedside table, a dresser and a table with chairs. One whole wall of the cabin was covered with a huge stone fireplace. It had already been lit, and Ziva could feel the heat radiating from it.

"Not bad, huh?" Ziva spun around, gun in hand, to find Tony grinning at her.

"Haven't you ever heard of knocking?" Ziva asked crossly, moving to the door to shut it. A cold breeze blew in, chilling her to the bone.

"Freezing, isn't it?" Tony plopped himself down in one of the wooden chairs, putting his feet up on another chair. "Astrid says that because they're so close to the mountains, it's always cold up here, even in summer. That's why they have these huge fireplaces," he gestured to Ziva's, "everywhere. Other than that, we're just gong to have to get used to the climate."

"Wonderful." Ziva sighed inwardly as she began to unpack. If there was only thing she hated, it was the cold.

"And by the way," Tony smirked, "have you seen our bathrooms?"

Ziva raised her eyebrows at him. "You should not be insulting our hosts, Tony. You will get off on the wrong boot with them."

"Foot, Ziva, foot." Tony closed his eyes folding his hands behind his head. "And have you seen our bathrooms yet?"

Slowly, Ziva took our her bag of toiletries, so as not to make it look like she going to inspect her bathroom solely on Tony's advice, and walked over to a small door built into one of the walls.

And groaned.

"Bad, isn't it?" Tony said with relish.

Everything in the bathroom seemed normal. A wooden shower stall, a basin and a stall for the toilet – that was a hole in the ground.

"Our lovely hosts don't have any running water or electricity. They get all their water from the river near here – and they use fire when night comes. No phones, no cable television, not even any flashlights, and those run on batteries. Nothing."

"Rather primitive." Ziva wrinkled her nose as stared down the hole that was her new toilet.

"We believe it helps us stay closer to the Earth, Agent David." Ziva and Tony turned to see Astrid smiling at them from the doorway. "It also helps us appreciate what we have all the more."

Astrid stepped away from the door, motioning for the agents to come with her.

"The Elders want to present you to Haven."

* * *

"I'm telling you Gibbs, I've seen that symbol before!" Abby pressed her lips firmly together and continued drawing the markings onto the piece of paper.

"Abby, even my computer couldn't find anything on those markings." McGee tried to chime in but Gibbs and Abby ignored him.

"Where do you think those markings come from and how fast can you find them?"

"I'm sure I can find those markings – but as for how long it will take? That'll be a problem." She was struck silent as Gibbs laid a hand on Abby's shoulder. It was a subtle movement, but Abby knew that he was trying to say he trusted her abilities, and more importantly, her.

"Do it as fast as you can, Abbs, before we have to get these marks off of Tony and Ziva's bodies."

"Don't you think they can handle this, Gibbs?" Her brow wrinkled in worry.

"Ziva and Tony are good fighters, and they can get a confession out of almost anyone, but they can't go up against a whole village."

* * *

Ziva and Tony stood at attention in front of the Elders' meeting hall, where they had first stood with Gibbs. It was a huge room, with the usual stone wall fireplace. However, this room was now filled with the entire community of Haven. On one end of the room was an elevated platform on which a long wooden table sat. Behind the table sat the Elders.

Tony's gaze moved from Elder to Elder as he watched them talk to each other in whispers. Some were young, with strong muscles and youthful complexion. Others were older, with graying hair and hunched backs. However, they all held themselves with pride, and Tony could see that they took their duties seriously. Suddenly, Astrid's father rose up and immediately the entire room fell silent. It was obvious that this man was the leader of everyone, Elder or no.

Clearing his throat, he began to speak.

"These agents of NCIS…" Astrid turned to Tony, looking at him as her father went on and on.

"…dedicated and loyal…" Her sparkling green eyes shone with mischievous glee.

"…here to stop the person who committed this heinous crime on our lands…" Her sweet pink lips pulled up into a crooked grin.

"…we will give them our full corporation…" Her silky white hair flew over her face like moonlight.

And then her lips were on his and he was running his hands through her hair…

"Tony!" Ziva's brown eyes gazed into his, locks of her midnight black hair drifting into her face… "Tony, the meeting is over."

"Oh." He blinked and shook his head. "I zoned out, didn't I?" He grinned guiltily. "Did it show?"

"Not much, I doubt anyone else saw."

"Only you with your super-ninja skills."

"And me." Astrid suddenly brushed by Tony, smiling at him. "But then, I always notice too much."

"Duly noted." Tony smirked at her, only to be pushed to the side by Ziva, who walked past him, determinedly not looking at him. He grimaced at her disgruntled expression. Why couldn't he even flirt with someone without receiving Ziva's wrath? Maybe he should talk to her…

But why couldn't he flirt with Astrid? What was he doing wrong? If Ziva had a problem with it, then she should just tell him. So she obviously didn't have a problem with him if she didn't talk to him about it. Right?

Right.

* * *

Ziva stomped over the mossy green rocks as she made her way through the forest. She stumbled slightly over a root and fell onto the ground. She should have known never to come out here alone in the dark. She couldn't see a thing out here. She looked up to the moon for some help, but only caught a silver of it through the tree branches. It shone brightly, the exact same color as Astrid's hair –

She shook her head and began to move forward. Walking always led to somewhere, and even if that somewhere wasn't back to her cabin, it might be to a person who could help her.

But a half-hour later, Ziva was more lost than before. She wasn't worried, because she had plenty of outdoor experience, and people of Haven where sure to look for her – even Tony, if he could tear himself away from his new girlfriend.

But she did want to be back in her soft bed, with a small fire warming every frozen inch of her body. She groaned in longing. Every part of her was tired, sore and cold. Maybe she should try to find some shelter and lie down for the night… She was jolted out of her thoughts as she heard the most wonderful sound in the world.

Water.

Ziva stumbled forward, finally finding her way out of the woods. She looked around the empty place, where grass replaced trees. Her eyes caught on an area of the ground where the grass faded away only to be substituted by craggy rock. Looking around, she still didn't see any water. Carefully, she walked to the edge of the rock and looked down.

A magnificent waterfall flowed out from rock just a few feet below here, out of her reach. It streamed down in perfect white foam to a river below, where she could just barely see small gray rocks standing unmoving in the current. Maybe if she could find her way to the river below she could get a drink…

Before the thought could spread in her mind, Ziva felt something hard grab on her back. Then she was flying through the air, suddenly hitting the water, the feeling of panic not having the time to rise before the current pulled her under…

* * *

"C'mon you slowpoke, it's just a few more minutes!" Astrid laughed.

"Go on without me, I'll just die here." Tony fell back against a tree dramatically, letting his eyes shut and his loll forward.

"You big baby!" Astrid grabbed Tony's hand and pulled with all her might, but he didn't move an inch. "I promise the view will be worth it. It's so beautiful."

"Fine. But if I came out all this way for nothing, you're going to have to drag me back to my cabin."

Astrid giggled. "I think it would take me ten hours to do _that._"

"What do you mean? I'm not that heavy!"

"That's debatable - We're here!" Astrid and Tony ran out of the forest into a small clearing. He looked around, unimpressed.

"Wow. This really is something. Ok, you're dragging my back to the cabin."

"That's not the surprise, silly. _This_ is." Astrid ran forward onto a bit of rock and looked down. "Check this out!"

Carefully, Tony edged his way out onto the rock, too. Looking down, his breath caught.

A waterfall tumbled and churned, rushing and crashing down below to the river. Mesmerized, he followed the line of white foam, seemingly stretching and pointing to only one thing- His breath suddenly stopped. Astrid turned her head in Tony's direction and let out a scream.

"Is that?"

"Oh my-"

"ZIVA!"


	4. Chapter 4: Under

_**I know, it's been a long time since I've updated, but I've had some computer problems. I hope you like what you read.**_

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_You don't know how it's tortured me. The thought of you, still, white, cold… to never see you blush scarlet again, to never see that flash of intuition in your eyes when you see through my pretenses… it would be unendurable. You are the most important thing to me now. The most important thing to me ever._

* * *

"ZIVA!" Tony kicked off his shoes and pulled off his shirt without even thinking. All he could see was the still form of Ziva clinging to a rock, the water trying to push and sway her.

"Tony NO!" Astrid screamed and clutched at his arm. "If you miss the rocks, then the water's temperature will kill you! I'm running for help, just stay here with Ziva." Without another word, Astrid flew back into the forest.

The second she was gone, Tony dove into the water. He tried to angle himself to avoid the rocks, but it was impossible at the speed he was going. By some lucky break, he managed to plunge into the freezing water, cold but alive.

He fought to make it back to the surface, his arms and legs being pushed down, held as if by a great weight. Finally, finally, he was able to break the surface of the water, gasping for breath and looking for Ziva.

"ZIVA! ZIVA!" He was pulled down again by the current, which rushed him forward, slamming him into a rock. His shoulder suddenly felt as if it were on fire. He couldn't think clearly with his body being smashed by rocks and rushed along by water.

Desperately, he clawed his way to the surface once more, giving one more call before he was pushed back down by the water, choking on it.

"ZIVA!"

* * *

"Tony…" Ziva clung to the rock with her life. "Tony…I am here." Her voice was weak and raspy, her vision blurred and jumbled. Her arms felt like they were about to fall off, she knew she couldn't hang on much longer. "Tony…over here." With what little strength she had, she turned her head to try and find Tony. Her vision landed on him just to see him scream her name one more time, and then slip under the water.

He didn't come back up. Tony wasn't coming back up. Why wasn't he coming back up?

The answer was clear, and Ziva already knew it. But she couldn't make the connection. Tony didn't die. Get framed, yes, nearly get blown up, yes. But die? Tony. Ziva was so numb with shock that when the current made furiously tried to push her down into the water, she was caught unexpected, and could not fight.

* * *

Tony fought against the water that had bound, blinded and gagged him. He needed to get to Ziva. He had to save her… He forced his eyes open and looked up.

In the distance, something black appeared to be sinking. _Ziva._ He stopped struggling against the current and let it take him. He shot forward and reached up as he rushed towards Ziva. It was a slim chance, but he had no other. He was too weak to fight against the current anymore. This was his last chance. At first he thought he had missed, but he looked up and saw he his fingers tangled in the thin fabric of her coat. He pulled her towards his chest and began to kick upwards.

He struggled towards the surface, the current batting him around easily, slamming him into rocks and depriving him of breath. He clung to Ziva's body, trying to give his body some extra reason to get to the surface when he was flung into the biggest rock yet. His head flew back as it hit the rock, and black dots popped up in his vision. But he freed one of his hands from Ziva's body and pushed against the rock's surface, forcing himself backwards. When he passed the rock again a few short seconds later, he forced Ziva's body to the top of the rock. He tried to push himself backwards again, but he was too weak, and had no breath was left to support him. He gave himself up to the darkness.

* * *

"I SEE HER!" Astrid screamed, forcing herself to the front of the boat. "RIGHT THERE! HURRY!" She counted herself lucky that the most experienced rowers were with her, navigating these dangerous waters. In just seconds they had pulled themselves up to the rock, managing to force the boat to stop by bracing their rows against the rock's back side.

Gently but quickly, Astrid grabbed Ziva's body and lowered it into the boat. Then she looked around for Tony. The heroic idiot had jumped into the water even when she had told him not to. She knew these waters were too rough for anyone to survive, no matter how strong or experienced they were.

"TONY!" She screamed his name, hoping he would hear her above the rushing waves. Maybe he had managed to get himself onto a rock like Ziva? "TONY!"

"To…ny…" She looked down and realized that Ziva was coming to. "Tony…" Ziva's warm brown eyes caught hers and she stared straight into them. "Tony?" She sounded so sacred…

"We're getting him." She wanted to reassure Ziva that everything would be ok, but she never liked telling lies… Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the men throwing nets out overboard, looking for any bodies…

"No. Went…under…water…" Ziva's eyes closed and she began to cough up water, trying to get words out between. "My…fault…"

"ASTRID!" She turned to see Langston pulling up a net that was entangled with the body of one Agent DiNozzo. He was completely blue, with a large crack on his head that was covered with the dark red of blood. His head lolled and he made no movement, even when Langston gently untangled him from the woven strings of the net.

Ziva saw him and began to reach for him, but stopped halfway and leaned out of the boat, vomiting. She turned her head to look at Tony and curled up into a ball, her back to him.

Astrid wanted to be sick, too.

* * *

"I think she's coming to…"

Moonlight. Moonlight was swimming over her vision and consuming her...drowning her…

"I thought she was dead when for sure when we pulled her out…"

No, not moonlight, something else. Something also white. Foam? Water.

"Ziva?"

She blinked and noticed the green among the white. She blinked again and her vision fell into place. Astrid's tiny face is looming above her, etched with concern and worry. Her eyes were bloodshot – as though she had been crying.

"Ziva, are you alright?"

"I – I think so." Something was out of place. Something was missing. What?

"What happened?"

"We think you fell into the river. I ran for help and T-Tony jumped in after y-"

Tony. That's what she had forgotten. She turned to Astrid, who was still rambling. "Where is Tony?"

Astrid was silent and Ziva began to shake.

"Tony!" She screeched, her voice was horribly dry and sore. "Where is he? I want to see him!"

Astrid slowly moved from her position in front of Ziva, to let her see Tony. Ziva tried to gasp, but the only thing that came out was a strangled, choked noise.

He was lying on a thick cushion in front of the fireplace, with so many blankets Ziva couldn't see his body. White bandages were wrapped around his head and his shoulder. Everywhere that Ziva looked she saw purple and black skin. He was still unconscious, and looked to be that way for a while.

"He got pretty banged up when he pulled you up to that rock where we found you. He's woken up a few times, but he's been delusional. I think he's imagining he's back in NCIS headquarters. He called Langston "Boss" a few times, and one time he thought I was someone named "McGee". He kept asking when my next book was coming out."

"Why – Why are we not in the hospital?" Ziva looked around the tiny cottage. She realized that she and Tony were actually in _her _cottage, the place she had been looking for when she… The irony of the situation made Ziva want to laugh hysterically or throw-up. She wasn't sure which yet.

"We don't own a car. The only thing he have is a few wagons and horses. We sent one of those to the nearest town, but it's pretty far away. We tried to use your cell phone, and then Tony's, but they were both broken when you went into the water." Astrid stated apologetically.

"How bad are our injuries?" She asked, struggling to sit-up.

"Surprisingly not bad as bad as we thought. You had a slight case of hypothermia but we think it's passed. You just need a long rest and you'll be as good as new. Tony's wounds are going to take a bit more time to heal. His hypothermia has been controlled too, and he'll probably wake up in a bit. However, his shoulder and head are going to be a bit sore."

"A bit?" Ziva asked in disbelief, staring at Tony.

"Okay, a lot." Astrid reached to fluff Ziva's pillow when Ziva's hand suddenly snapped on Astrid's arm.

"Help me up." She said. Astrid hesitated and Ziva huffed in exasperation. "I'm not going to run away, I just want to see Tony. I'll be perfectly fine with you helping me." She began to stand. Astrid slipped an arm under her shoulders, tucking a blanket around Ziva with the other arm. Together, the two women started towards Tony. Ziva stumbling, Astrid supporting her.

Eventually they arrived at Tony's make-shift bed in the middle of the floor. Astrid helped Ziva crouch down, who let her shaking hand touch Tony's shoulder, feeling his frozen skin even through the fabric of blankets. She turned back to Astrid, who had stepped back to watch her. "Are you certain he will live?"

"Absolutely." She smiled calmly at Ziva and Ziva couldn't help but feel slightly comforted. Then Astrid turned back to Tony and gave a small frown. "He does need some more heat, though, or else he could catch pneumonia." She piled a few more logs into the huge fireplace, but Tony didn't even move.

"I can help you with that." Ziva said. Gently, she pulled back a few of the blankets and got underneath them, her body close to his, sharing his warmth and giving him hers. After a few minutes, she felt him wrap an arm around her and pull her closer, the way one might do with a pillow in sleep. Forcing herself to ignore the odd, fluttering feelings in her chest, Ziva laid her head back on the pillow and gave into sleep.

* * *

**_I hoped you enjoyed that chapter! Now go review please! Reviews make me write faster! Remember, I hold Tony's fate in the palm of my hand *suddenly gets attacked by Tony fans* ._**


	5. Chapter 5: Lost

_Personal affection is a luxury you can have only after all your enemies are eliminated. Until then, everyone you love is a hostage, sapping your courage and corrupting your judgment._

_

* * *

_

When Ziva's eyes fluttered opened, she immediately registered the fact that she was very sore, very dirty and that her head was buried into a warm chest she knew very well.

"Mmmm…" She moved her head slightly, shifting in Tony's embrace. "If you tell McGee or Abby about this Tony I swear I will…" She looked up, smiling teasingly.

And then felt her stomach drop out as she looked at Tony's stiff, frozen face.

"Tony?" She said frantically, getting up and looking for a pulse. As she touched his neck, she pushed back the urge to recoil from his blue skin. When she didn't, she flipped him on his back and began to pump on his chest, breathing air into his lungs. He didn't move, blink or breathe.

No no no no no no… "TONY!" He would wake up soon and flash her a classic DiNozzo smirk because that's what he did, make her freak out and then laugh…

Suddenly, he moved. Relieved tears fell out of Ziva's eyes. She had almost lost him. There would have been no more arguments, no more warm smiles, no more….anything. A life without Tony.

Tony's neck turned and he stared directly into Ziva's eyes. She felt her smile slid off her face, and she swallowed hard. Something was different, wrong about Tony. He smirked, and Ziva drew back. This wasn't Tony's smirk, this was one that she had seen on the face of torturers, of killers… It was of pure callousness, of getting pleasure out of cruelty…

"You killed me Ziva."

"No…" She felt the whisper brush past her lips before she could even think about it.

"If you hadn't fallen over the cliff, I would still be alive."

"No, no Tony that's not true! I…" Fuzzy memories were starting to come back about her "accident." "I was pushed!"

"So what?" The possessed Tony spat the words in her face. "So I had to give up my life because, for all her bragging, big bad Mossad Agent Ziva David, couldn't defend herself?"

"I – I didn't want you to jump into the river with me!" Ziva said, her face worried screwed up in horror. Tony never talked to her like this, so cruel and unkind. Who was this strange creature that had taken over him? She tried to push him away, to escape, but Tony grabbed her, pinning her arms to her sides. And suddenly it wasn't Tony anymore, but someone more horrible, more evil than she could imagine. Was it some monster Tony, coming from hell to pay for her mistake of letting him die. She didn't know how she knew this with an absolute certainty, but she was certain she was right. And suddenly, his hands were on her shoulders, and he caught her eyes with his. She saw death, destruction, horror. Tony was gone and he had been taken over by this demon because of her…

"NO! Tony!" She screamed out for him, the real him, but he didn't come and the hands dragged her down…

"Ziva! Ziva!" Someone had violently shaken her from her dream, and Ziva opened her eyes to find Tony staring at her, a look of concern on his face.

"Tony?" She sat up, panting heavily. She looked around and saw that they were lying side by side on the cabin floor. It was completely empty except for them, everyone else had left. Ziva turned back to Tony, seeing the raw worry in his eyes. Worry. Worry meant caring. And caring was… Tony. She reached out, and touched his face. She needed to know he was real, that she wasn't having another dream, and that she wouldn't wake up to a cold, stiff Tony… She couldn't handle facing another dream world again.

Slowly, she ran her hand down Tony's face. Tony was silent as she touched his checks and ran a finger down the long bruise he had obtained. He flinched, and this caused _her _pain. She touched her forehead to his, to show him he wasn't alone, she was right her, and she knew what he had done for her. They looked into each others eyes for a minute. His eyes were filled with concern for her, hers were filled with an odd, childlike fancy. Then, finally satisfied with the reality she had been presented with, she sank down into the blankets, still looking up at a mystified Tony.

* * *

Gibbs sighed and tossed his seventh cup of coffee in the trash. He couldn't do anything about this case until he got a call from DiNozzo and David, and considering they were only going to call if anything important happened…

He was thinking about telling McGee, who was pretending to look at a map of the forest really closely, but was really just sleeping, to go home, when something heavy landed on his desk. He looked up to see Abby standing in front of him with a huge book on his desk. "Abs?" He questioned, just as if he were in her lab.

"You're not going to like this, Gibbs." But, in contrast to her words, Abby looked excited. Her eyes gleamed, her cheeks were flushed and an exhilarated smile shone on her face.

"I take it you found a match on our odd writing?" They glanced over to McGee who had finally woken up and was now listening attentively.

"Yep, something which your computers have yet to do." Abby gestured at the computer, which was, for the fifth time, comparing the unknown symbols to all known types of writing.

"And?" Gibbs asked after the typical pause, in which Abby relished withholding information from him.

"And, looking at this, I've been beginning to think…" Abby cut herself off, staring off into space and chewing on her lip. Theatrics, Gibbs knew. She was trying to go for the most dramatic effect possible. He played along well.

"Beginning?" He asked, raising his eyebrows.

"That this case has suddenly become a lot more complicated."

"Why? What's in the info, Abs?" He gently grabbed her wrist and removed it from the pigtail she had been twisting around. She seemed to ignore him, and continued staring off into space.

"You need someone on the inside of this case Gibbs, someone who knows what's going on. Because let me tell you right now, this isn't your ordinary case. This isn't like one you've ever seen before. So for this one, you need someone who's smart, someone who's resourceful, someone who knows the ins and outs of all the important clues and background information of this case. Someone…like me."

_No. _The though burst out of him before he even had a chance to think about what she had asked of him. Abby in danger. Abby in the midst of blood and filth, exposed to the darkness of the world. Abby was meant to sit in her lab, protected and safe. Someone for him to come back to when the mission was hard, or when he needed a break. And now she wanted to break all those rules and put herself in cold, cruel danger?

Not while he was breathing.

Abby was still staring at him hopefully, which meant he hadn't broken anything or shouted yet, which he considered a huge accomplishment. He managed to move his lips an inch to say, "No."

Her smile slid off faster than butter. "But Gibbs! What you need for this mission, I can do better than anyone in this agency! I know how to handle a case like this!"

"You're not qualified to do something like this." He stood up now, trying to pretend it was someone he could intimate, like his team.

But Abby simply jumped up, unafraid, ready to take whatever he gave to her.

That was his girl. And that was the reason he couldn't lose her.

"I said 'NO' Abby. What part of that don't you understand?" He roared the words, trying his hardest to scare her. But that didn't work with Abby.

"If it was Ducky or Palmer who was trying to pull this you wouldn't be like this!"

"I damn well would!"

"Ziva and Tony need me, you have to trust me on this one Gibbs! I'm the only one that can help them with this mission."

"Ziva and Tony are qualified agents who can deal with what is thrown at them. The same goes for McGee and I, who are their backup."

"This isn't fair! It's because I'm a girl, isn't it? You think a girl couldn't handle this…or, or it's because I can't shoot, is that it? Because who's fault is that? I talked about getting a gun and who talked me out of it? Oh, that right, YOU!" Abby's eyes were sharp and slightly wet. She wasn't going to give up easily. He knew he had to pull out the heavy guns. He would be hurting her, and she was going to hate him for it, but he was willing to take it if it kept her safe. He couldn't lose Abby…

"Now listen here, Scuito. You are under my command and you will obey my orders. Is that understood?"

Abby's eyes went wide with shock. He had never used her last name except for her first day on the job. He had never, _ever_ shouted like that at her. This was a low blow, he knew, but he hoped it would drive the point across.

"Fine." She spat out the words with suck venom that he had to stop himself from stepping back, backing down. She grabbed her book, turned and stomped her way back to the elevator, shoving McGee into his desk when he tried to talk to her.

"You haven't given me the evidence yet!" He shouted after her.

"You'll get it when I can go undercover!" Abby screamed over her shoulder.

Gibbs opened his mouth, then closed it. Abby needed to be alone right now, to calm down and cool off. He would go back to her later, give her a Caf-Pow and comfort her. She would forgive him in time.

She had to.

* * *

Abby managed to keep the tears inside until she was safely in the elevator. Once there, she slammed the button to stop it, and slid down to her knees. This brought back memories from an even darker time, one where the links she and Gibbs had constructed had been permanently bonded.

"_Nobody's going to hurt you__ Abby."_

"_You're just saying that to make me feel better."_

"_Is it working?"_

"_Yeah. Can you say it again?"_

"_No one's going to hurt you Abs."_

She had depended on him for too long. Long enough to be made the sniveling damsel in distress that Gibbs could always protect. But he wasn't going to be able to do that, not anymore.

She knew that this would hurt him, and for that she was truly sorry. But she wouldn't let Tony and Ziva come back in a body bags. She could change that future, and she would. Besides, if Tony and Ziva died, Abby would still be lost to Gibbs, lost in her own grief and uselessness. There was no way out of this problem except to do something so hurtful to Gibbs that she didn't want to consider it. But there wasn't any choice. She only could hope that he might forgive her.

Wiping the tears from her eyes, she took out her cell phone and dialed a number she knew, but had never used.

"Director Vance? I've got something I think that would interest you."


	6. Chapter 6: The Ripple Effect

_Once you cared about a person, it was impossible to be logical about them anymore._

_

* * *

_

Gibbs couldn't help but feel unusually awkward as he stood in the hallway that led to Abby's lab. She would be furious with him after last night, he knew. Well, he was prepared for that. He wasn't going to let _anything _happen to Abby, no matter how much she hated him for it. He had gotten what he wanted, and now had to receive the consequences of his actions.

He swept through the door of Abby's lab and immediately stopped. The lights were all turned off, the equipment – Abby's "babies" – were dead and no rock music greeted him today. No scornful, pigtailed forensic scientist, either.

Abandoning his bribe for forgiveness – an extra large Caf-Pow – he hurried back to the office, checking his e-mail, and then his cell phone for some indication of Abby taking a leave of absence. None. Even if Abby had been upset, she wouldn't have made them all worry, would she?

Barking at McGee to check his e-mail and phone for some sign from Abby, Gibbs thought over the situation. Was this Abby getting back at him for yelling at her? She was prone to overreaction… What if she really was just taking a leave of absence? Would intruding on her vacation time be another strike against him? She was already so mad…

"Boss I've got nothing on Abby." Screw it, he was finding her whether she liked it or not.

"Start a trace on her cell McGee. I'm going over to her house." He picked up his gear and was headed to the elevator when –

"Hold on Jethro. I know where Abby is." He turned to find Leon Vance, with an unreadable look on his face, holding Abby's cell phone.

* * *

"Tony be careful!" Ziva called out sternly as she watched him stumble over a large pile of rocks. Although he had been declared well enough to continue the mission, Ziva was still concerned about the large bruise on his shoulder. She was still a bit upset that instead of coming back with an ambulance as promised, the citizens of Haven had only succeeded in bringing the local doctor. They had claimed they didn't think the wounds would be as bad as the looked, and they really weren't. But Ziva was still slightly nervous about how close he was cradling his right arm to his body.

She supposed she should also be concerned about his head, but why waste energy on something she worried about everyday?

Together, the partners made their way to the edge of the cliff they had recently almost lost their lives to. Ziva stared down at the rushing water, grey today, to match the cloud-filled sky. As the white foam crashed against the rocks, which looked so small from where she stood. She shivered and crossed her arms.

"You were looking down here," Tony said, pointing, "and then someone just pushed you in?" He stared down at the ice cold water, too.

"Yes. It-" She looked up and saw the purple, now slowly yellowing, bruises that covered his face, then had to look down again. "– it was my fault. I should have been more observant of my surroundings. And never have taken a walk at night."

"Hey." Tony gently caught her chin with one of his hands and brought it back up, making her eyes meet his. "This isn't your fault."

He let his hand drop, and Ziva suddenly realized, with more force than she had thought, that she and Tony were all alone. The breeze caught and played with her hair as she stared into Tony's eyes. Once again, she reached her hand up to touch the bruise that ran down the side of his face. Just as she was at the end of it, about to return her hand to her side, Tony moved his own hand up to hers and held it against his face for a long movement. His other hand brushed away a lock of hair dancing in front of her face, tucking it behind his ear. Their bodies moved closer to one another, their faces just an inch apart. Ziva felt her mouth open slightly; her eyes slide halfway shut in a dreamlike manner…

"Tony! Ziva!" They turned to see Astrid run toward the cliff without fear, only stopping when she reached them. "I'm sorry, I know I shouldn't interrupt your…investigation…" She said, now finally seeing the two of them fully for the first time. A startled look came over her face and she backed up a few feet. "It's just…I thought you might want to know we found an unconscious camper in the woods, just a few miles from Haven."

* * *

You've got about ten seconds to tell me where my forensic scientist is, Leon." Gibbs stared into Vance's hard eyes. They were standing in the privacy of Vance's office, Gibbs tense, Vance alert. He raised an eyebrow at Gibbs, but began to speak.

"At around 11:30 P.M. lat night Ms. Sciuto called me and told me she had some important information to share concerning your Haven investigation…"

Ice gripped Gibbs' heart. _No, please, no. _

"She gave me the said information and also gave me a useful strategy to using the information…"

_Tell me you didn't, tell me you didn't let her go…_

"So I let her take a leave from her forensic duties and take an undercover position in Haven…"

_NO._

"She can give Tony and Ziva needed information I feel is vital to the mission, and of course a replacement for he will be called in-" He was cut off as Gibbs grabbed him by his collar.

"You had no right to reassign Abby, Leon." He growled.

"It is only for one mission Jethro. And let me remind you that, unlike your agents, she does not answer to you. She has other cases besides yours that are just as important, no matter what she has lead you to think. She answers, therefore, directly to me."

"She isn't prepared."

"Ziva and Tony are well trained agents that can protect Abigail. And as I remember from past cases involving her, she doesn't need much protecting. She does very well against an opponent on her own.

"And I feel I should remind you, Jethro," Vance continued, a steely look in his eyes now, "that since Abby is reporting to me, I control what information goes to your team. If you want to manhandle me, that's fine. But I'll never tell you a thing about Abby's mission, if you do."

There was a long pause and finally Gibbs, with a great amount of self control, let go of Vance's collar.

"Good. And Jethro?" He called out to Gibbs, who was wrenching open the door, "Don't even think of trying to pull some 'rescue' for Abby. I will simply send her back out, and she won't take too kindly to you for trying to control her. I think this was what influenced her decision in the first place." And with that, he nodded to Gibbs who stormed out of his office.

Vance tucked his collar back in and looked down at his desk, which had all of its contents on the floor, thanks to Gibbs nearly dragging him across it.

"That went well."

* * *

"Ok, you know what?" I'm never building a house in the woods, ever." Shaking her head, Ziva looked down at Tony who was flat on his back in the middle of the forest.

"This is what? Your third, fourth time tripping over roots?"

"Sixth, Zee-va, sixth." She simply rolled her eyes at his sprawled figure.

"What's taking so long?" Astrid called on from up ahead. "Everything ok?"

"Fine!" Tony called back, clutching a tree branch to help him get back on his feet. "I'm good, thanks." He directed towards Ziva. "I don't need any help, but thanks for asking."

Ziva ignored him and reached out a hand. He grabbed it and hauled himself to his feet. Tony's weight made Ziva move slightly forward, causing her to fall into Tony. She looked up into Tony's face and found him looking back down at her. There was a long, indescribable moment. Then Tony's squeezed Ziva's hand. "C'mon," he said, smiling softly, "can't be late."

As they began to walk again through the woods, Ziva marveled at the change their relationship had took. What had once been a simple and easy partnership he had changed into something…something that Ziva couldn't exactly describe. But seeing Tony dive into the water for her, fighting the current, screaming her name over and over before he was pulled into the deep water…Not seeing him come up, thinking he was dead…Ziva gave a small shudder…Then waking up again in the boat to see him dead again…The awful memories seemed to close in on her, and she suddenly felt claustrophobic, her breathing tight and body stiff. She began to run to try and catch up with Astrid. The crunching of leaves behind her told her that Tony was following her.

Together, they finally caught up to Astrid who began guiding them effortlessly through the woods again, speaking as she walked. "We found the camper just a few miles outside of Haven. We think that she was lost and heard the voices coming from Haven. We're not sure why she stopped. She doesn't have any signs of dehydration or starvation. It's possible she collapsed out of exhaustion.

"The only thing she had with her is her backpack and it didn't have anything threatening in it but some knives and matches, although that's typical for a serious camper. Ugh, I'd hoped that we would get here _before _the crowd started forming. Word travels fast around here, huh?"

It certainly did, as Tony and Ziva saw half of Haven crowded in a tight circle, all looking down at the something in the center. Astrid, with a few well placed jabs from her elbows to others' ribs, helped them get to the center to see the camper. As the looked at the body lying spread-eagled in front of them, Ziva and Tony felt similar jolts of shock.

Ziva was better at containing her surprise, keeping it limited to a raising of the eyebrows. Tony, however, had to quickly compose his face from the stunned look it had shifted into to a neutral, untroubled one. But they both turned their faces towards each other to acknowledge their recognition of the still body lying in front of them…

Abby.

* * *

**I have seen Legend Parts 1 and 2 and my only thought is: Michael Rivkin must die.**


	7. Chapter 7: Sleeping and Questions

_But I know the rage that drives you. That impossible anger strangling the grief, until the memory of your loved one is just... poison in your veins. And one day, you catch yourself wishing the person you loved had never existed so you'd be spared your pain._

* * *

"Tired?"

"You have no idea." Tony lay on his bed, eyes closed and body limp, while Ziva sat cross-legged next to him. "I must have slept for hours yesterday but still…Who knew that drowning could take so much out of you?"

"Yes, because almost losing your life is such a relaxing experience." She raised one thin brow, watching him breathe deeply. He looked like he was going to fall asleep any moment now. "Shall we talk about the most important issue before you lay out?"

"Huh? Oh, it's _pass_, Ziva, pass out."

"I do not care. What matters now is Abby." Truthfully, she was trying to change the subject, but the words she spoke were honest and real. "I am uneasy about her being here, Tony. I do not think Gibbs would let her become involved in this mission. Something is wrong here." She felt a feeling of uneasiness creep through her at these words. Something really _was _wrong. Although she and Tony had decided to not break Abby's cover in front of the people of Haven, she was not comfortable with Abby being in the place where she had almost lost her life a few days ago.

"Why don't we just wait and see what she does when she wakes up and get a moment alone with her? We'll just pretend to be interrogating her, like we did with some of the other residents who found her."

"We could sneak into her cabin tonight and just ask her then. Much quicker." Ziva uncrossed her legs, trying to get some feeling back into them. She moved on her side so as to become less cramped, putting an arm up to support her head. Her elbow, flat on the bedspread, protested the movement. It was still sore from her trip into the river.

Tony turned his head and finally opened his eyes, staring into hers. "Can't." Tony said. "I checked, and Abby's cabin is way too close to the Elders' to even think about trying to sneak in. They'd probably get pretty ticked if they thought we were hiding something from them." They stared at each again without saying anything for a moment too long. Ziva finally broke the eye contact, uncomfortable with how many of those moments they seemed to be having that weekend. Then Tony slowly turned his head back and closed his eyes once more.

"Oh." Ziva lapsed into silence, trying to think of another plan. She crossed her arms and laid her head down on them, thinking deeply. It made her uneasy to see Abby exposed like this. She was not cut out for field work. She was too emotional, too passionate, too… Her eyes drifted shut, and her body began to fully relax as she drifted into an uneasy sleep.

When Ziva woke up, the sky outside was a dark midnight blue, only cut by the light from the pearl-like moon. It was just a sliver away from being a full moon. She turned her eyes away from the night sky, only to have her gaze rest on her partner, who was a breath away from her, maybe even less.

As he slept, Ziva marveled at the childlike innocence written on his face. It was a soft, calm face that he wore in his sleep, so much unlike the sarcastic, humorous one he showed during the day. She idly wondered which was his true face. She was cut from her thoughts by Tony's voice. He mumbled something in his sleep, and Ziva put a hand on his cheek. The mumbling faded away and he went back to sleep. She pulled her hand away, and got out of bed. His body was freezing. They should have known better than to go to sleep without even getting under the covers. Well, in her defense, she hadn't actually planned to sleep with Tony tonight. Not that she was sleeping with… She was just sleeping with him. And it was not like it was a usual circumstance, it was very, very unusual… She blushed, uncharacteristically flustered.

To distract herself, she dragged herself over to the fireplace, and managed to start a decent fire. Then she took the extra blankets from one of the dresser drawers, and covered Tony with two of them, wrapping one around herself.

She lay back down in the bed, wanting to make sure that Tony was going to be okay. Slowly, as the heat of the fire and blankets warmed her body, she fell back into a peaceful sleep.

* * *

"She made the decision that she felt was right, Jethro. In time, I'm sure we will find out why."

"Boss, Abby never disobeys commands unless she really needs to. It must be urgent."

"Leave her alone, Gibbs. Soon, you'll find the answers that you want."

Gibbs stared at Abby's still full Caf-Pow cup as he sat in the darkened lab. McGee, who had been on forensic duty, had left a few hours ago. The voices of Ducky, McGee and Vance floated through his head, dreamlike, as he tried to control the urge to throw the Caf-Pow across the room.

Abby had gone behind his back, to Vance of all people, and had put herself in danger without even a second thought.

Why hadn't he just listened to her, and stopped shouting for a second?

Why hadn't he known that she would pull a stunt like this?

And why, he thought with a rush of hot anger, hadn't she just stopped for a minute to think about the consequences? She had to remember there were rules for her to follow. None of his other team members would even think about putting themselves in the position she had; disobeying his orders, letting themselves going undercover without letting him know, taking orders from Vance before him, Gibbs shook his head minutely, as though trying to fling away the hurtful thoughts that were creeping in.

Abby knew she could get away with these things because she wasn't like the other members of the team. When he looked at her, he saw an excited, energetic girl that believed in justice, faith and goodness.

He saw in her everything that he had hoped Kelly would have become.

No matter how many times her life was in danger, Abby came back to her job because she wanted to defend the innocent. She felt that this was something she personally needed to do, a journey that no one but her could take. And, no matter which way Gibbs tried to spin the problem and pin the blame, that was exactly what Abby was doing. She was protecting the innocent, exactly what NCIS was supposed to do.

But if he lost her…He had recovered from a lot of bad things, but this one…He would never been able to cope if he lost Abby, one of the only people he had let unconditionally into his heart since he had received the news of Kelly's death so many years ago. Kate– he had loved her like a daughter, but she was tough, strong and had signed up for the job knowing that death could happen to her anytime. He had known it might happen to her, too. Abby didn't have that burden, which was why everyone was so attracted to her. She was a ray of sunshine in the dark, depressing business of law enforcement. An eternal optimist. She didn't think about things like death and was too innocent to dwell on them everyday. Too trusting, too soft, too loving…. But now she was out in the world, facing a killer that would not hold any of the loving qualities that she would never let go no matter what. And because of that, his worse nightmare was unfolding in front of him.

Abby was in danger, and there was nothing he could do.

But had she even cared? She had run off to be the big hero and save the day, without even a thought to how he was going to feel. Did she know how hard her betrayal would hit him? Did she just think that he would forgive her when she stared at him with her puppy dog eyes, like she did all the times before? Did she really not know him that well? Did she even care about him enough to consider his feelings?

As much as he wanted to deny it, Gibbs knew that the bond between himself and Abby had changed forever. There would always be a rough undertone between all the interactions that they had from now on, a whisper in his ear that he couldn't really trust her, that she would just ignore him again when she wanted to, that she would never really respect his opinion, it was all pretend with him. That whisper wasn't ever going to go away.

The warm, loving relationship that Gibbs had had with Abby was gone and was replaced with…He didn't know yet, but it would make itself known the next time he saw Abby. The next time they stared at each other, not calm and comfortable, but awkward, with betrayal heavily hanging in the air. It would make itself fully known in that moment that he had lost her forever.

It wouldn't be as bad as staring at her pale corpse, but it hurt all the same.

* * *

Tony woke up to see Ziva's slumbering face just inches away from his own. On her face rested a look of numb bliss, all the tenseness that she carried during the day erased. He watched her breathe slowly and steadily, peace radiating from her thin frame. He briefly wondered what it would be like to put his hand up on her cheek, to trail his thumb all the way down her smooth skin, to watch her eyes flutter open in surprise when she woke up to find him stroking her, to see a happy smile appear on her face and feel her reach up to stroke his face, too. He thought about having the right to do this everyday, and felt a pleasant shiver make its way slowly down his spine, making his body shudder. Unfortunately, he was so close to Ziva that his small movement woke her, her eyes fluttering open exactly like in his vision. Just like a few hours before, there a moment of silence as they stared into each others eyes, not knowing what they were looking for, but finding something all the same.

"Tony?" Ziva whispered, her soft voice sounding like thunder the quiet room. She opened her mouth again, but then yawned loudly, and rose up from where she had been lying next to him. She stood up and stretched her legs. "How long where we asleep?"

Tony rose up too, and looked at the window, where the gray light of dawn was beginning to peak over the land; he could spot smears of pink and blue in the sky. "I'd say all night." He turned back to her, and winked, a wide grin beginning to form. "So, was it comfortable last night?"

"Actually, no. You hog the covers." Ziva fired back, making him grin even wider.

"Well, if you want to do this again tonight, I'll try to be more generous." He had to fling himself down on the bed in order to avoid the pillow that she had launched at him at breakneck speed.

"Nice try but-" He stopped and looked in horror at what was lying in front of him.

"Tony?" Ziva asked, curious. "Did I kill you with my pillow?" She laughed, but when she received no response from Tony, no scornful comment or rude joke, she stopped. She walked around to where he was lying on the bed, not moving, not even breathing it seemed, and halted in shock. She let out a gasp of alarm at the figure lying next to her partner on the bed.

The jet black snake looked up at her once, its beady emerald eyes boring into her, flicked out its tongue, and launched itself at Tony.


	8. Chapter 8: Passion

**Hello out there! Here's the next chapter! ****I do not own NCIS or the book "501 Movies to See Before You Die."**

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_Passion. It lies in all of us. Sleeping...waiting... And though unwanted... unbidden... it will stir... open its jaws, and howl. It speaks to us... guides us... Passion rules us all. And we obey. What other choice do we have? Passion is the source of our finest moments. The joy of love... the clarity of hatred... and the ecstasy of grief. It hurts sometimes more than we can bear. If we could live without passion, maybe we'd know some kind of peace. But we would be hollow. Empty rooms, shuttered and dank... __Without __passion, we'd be truly dead._

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"Tony!" Ziva cried out as she watched the snake lunge for him. She didn't even think about what she was going to do next, it was just a reflex. All she knew was that she had to protect him, to keep him safe, to make sure he wasn't going to be harmed. If she could just do that, then she could handle whatever happened to her.

Years of Mossad training were on her side as she threw herself onto Tony, trying to cover him as much as she could. If the snake wanted to harm Tony, it would have to get through her first. Together, she and Tony watched as the snake lunged for Tony's hand, the easiest biting point within reach. Right before the fangs struck and bit down into his soft, warm flesh, Ziva thrust her own hand out and stuck it over his.

"Ziva NO!" Tony yelled, squirming, trying to free himself so that she would remain unharmed, but she was having none of it. She tensed her limbs, wrapping them around his, effectively keeping him in place. She was breathing hard, thoughts running frantically through her head.

Tony had to remain safe. That was not just a feeling she had, but a fact of life in her world. In Mossad, they had taught you to avoid the things that would cause you the most pain, if you could. Ziva acted upon this now. A small snake bite to her meant nothing if Tony would remain unharmed.

The snake's fangs were now ready to sink into her hand, and she tensed, waiting for the inevitable pain.

But it never came.

A quarter of a second before the fangs hit her hand, the snake flicked its head away, looking almost as frantic to get away from Ziva as Ziva was to get it away from Tony. Instead, its scaly body hit Ziva's hand, sending goosebumps down the arm it hit. The snake curved its body and turned so fast that all Ziva saw was a dark blur. Then it rose up to its full height. Ziva instinctively knew to follow it, and she raised herself up on her knees to the snake's height. Only then did she see how big it was. It looked to be as tall as a small car, and its width was about the same size as a tree truck. It flicked its tail and its emerald eyes looked around her to where Tony lay, dumbstruck on the bed. Seeing Tony, it bared its fangs, hissing. Its eyes flickered back to Ziva, and she somehow knew exactly what it was saying.

"Over my dead body." She muttered through gritted teeth. The snake hissed once more, but then astonishingly lowered itself back down to the bedspread. Ziva slowly followed it down, lowering herself onto Tony once more. However, the snake simply slid off the bed and out the open window it had come from.

As soon as the snake disappeared, Ziva felt her body relax, and she simply lay on top of Tony, her energy spent by the confrontation with the snake. The room was silent for several minutes as Ziva lay on Tony's chest, listening to his breathing.

"Ziva…" Tony's voice broke the stillness, it was both shocked and comforting. He gently raised a hand and ran it through her hair. The soothing gesture set Ziva off completely. She tensed her muscles back up again, and lunged for Tony. In between applying rough kisses to his neck, face, hair, anywhere that was dotted by purple and yellow bruises, she wondered what exactly she was _doing_. Her partner had almost been attacked by a snake, she had fended off said snake by trying to make him bite her, and the most miraculous thing of all, the snake hadn't bitten her. And in between all those worrying and fantastic things, Ziva couldn't help but thing that the most astounding thing of all was that Tony was kissing her back. Finally, he pulled away and Ziva gave a little moan of discord.

"Ziva…" He said once again, although this time it was through rough pants. She cut him off by kissing his lips once more. She didn't want to be reminded that this wasn't the time or place, that they had a job to do, that they shouldn't even be thinking this while their was a killer on the loose, but she couldn't help it. When she was sure that Tony wouldn't be protesting any longer, she began to trail her kisses down…down, all the way to his chest, where she began to claw frantically at the sweater he wore, almost desperate to get it off. Tony, meanwhile, was having more success with the pullover she was wearing, simply ripping it over her head in one rough move. Only her thin white blouse separated her body from his.

Which was where they were when Astrid came running in and found them. The expression on her face might have been funny, Ziva thought, if the situation wasn't so mortifying.

"Oh," Astrid said, beginning to back out of the cabin, "oh, I'm sorry. I just heard screaming and I thought -" She stammered. "I'll go now."

"Oh, no! No! It's okay!" Immediately Tony began to slide off Ziva, much to her disappointment. If Astrid had only not heard her screaming Tony's name before the snake attacked…Which brought her back to real life. Tony had been attacked and she had been smothering him instead of making sure he was okay. He was her partner, it was her job to do so. Turning to Astrid, she attempted to relay the details of the incident so she could ignore the guilty feeling that was currently building inside her.

"A snake slipped in through an open window, and nearly attacked Tony. I tossed myself in its path, and it retreated." Astrid's eyebrows raised so high they were nearly lost in her snow white hair.

"What did this snake look like?" She asked urgently.

This time it was Tony who answered. "Just a regular dark black."

"Besides the color. Was there anything that would distinguish it from other snakes?" Astrid asked.

"The eyes." Ziva replied, remembering those eyes looking into hers right before it lunged at Tony, and then again as she stood her ground, shielding Tony's body with her own. "They were green – emerald to be precise."

"Emerald. That's – that's not good. It didn't bite you anywhere, did it?" She asked. They shook their heads now and she relaxed right away. "Good, one little prick from those fangs and you would be dead in just a couple of minutes." Astrid muttered. "Stay here, and I'll go get help." She turned and ran off again, leaving the two partners in an awkward silence.

"So…" Tony began, turning to stare at Ziva.

"I do not wish to talk about it, Tony." Ziva began to busy herself with attending to her appearance. She put her pullover back on, and began to adjust her hair, trying to make the places Tony's hands had run through lie flat. As she probed them, she could have sworn she still felt the warmth she experienced when he had touched her.

"Are you okay?" Tony asked.

"Me? I am not the one who had a snake throw itself at me, Tony." Ziva turned her face away from him, pretending to focus all her attention on pulling her boots back on. Showing raw emotions was a sign of weakness, and if Tony saw the emotion on her face as she thought of how close she had come to loosing him…

"Yeah, but you threw yourself in front of me! What was up with that, anyway?" He asked, his voice beginning to grow a little bit upset.

"I trust you are not mad?" Running out of things to do with her appearance, Ziva now focused her efforts on readjusting the things next to his bedside. A flashlight, one of his usual magazines, a _"501 Movies to See Before You Die" _book… She felt her throat close up.

"Why would I be?" He asked, the discomfort in his voice rising.

"You just sound a little bit…bugsy." She said, purposely trying to distract him by messing up an American idiom.

"Antsy, Ziva, antsy. And yeah, I should be when my partner nearly gets herself killed for me!" His voice was beginning to rise, and she was ripped her eyes away from the word "Die" on the front cover of the book.

"That is my job, Tony. Partners are supposed to protect each other." She said, keeping her voice neutral.

"Protect each other, yeah. Not commit suicide for them!" He said, almost yelling.

"Well what did you wish for me to do?" She finally lost her temper, throwing the book back down on the table. "Just stand there like a helpless fool and watch the snake kill you?"

"It would better than me having to watch it kill you!" He replied, now finally yelling. Ziva looked up and met his eyes, only just now realizing that they had been crossing the room during their fight, their bodies so close they were almost touching. As she stared into Tony's eyes, she saw him soften, and then he sighed.

"You almost drowned just a few days ago, Ziva." He said, his warm breath blowing into her face.

"But you saved me." She reminded him, her voice just a murmur now.

"I know." He admitted. "I just – I just didn't want that to all go to waste by having you die a few days later."

"So then this isn't about me, this is about your egoistical attitude!" She snapped.

"What? No!" He said, disbelief coloring his handsome features.

Ziva knew what he was doing. He was laying himself out, flesh and soul for her, telling her that he cared about her more than his own life, that he had almost died for her once, and would be willing to do so again. She had caught only glimpses of it in the looks they had exchanged recently, the small, knowing smiles they gave each other. She liked that knowledge, felt comforted by it. Now, though, she was seeing the true amount of Tony's feelings for her, and she was terrified by them. That much commitment, that much adoration, it scared her worse than any torturer, any bomb, any killer. So she did what she had learned to do: she hide her emotions and pushed him away.

"Of course it is!" She yelled, the louder she was, the less energy she would have to focus on her heart breaking. "You just can't stand that I had to rescue you!"

"What are you talking about?" Tony asked incredulously.

"You know exactly what I am talking about. Your stupid, macho pride." She turned her back on him, so she could hide her face.

"This that what you think this is about? That I almost gave up my life just so I could say, 'I rescued the damsel in distress! Look at me!'" He was yelling too now, and it made her so upset that she almost made up some excuse for what she was saying, to tell him it was just a joke or a slip of the mouth.

Almost.

"Yes, Tony, that is exactly what I am saying." She said.

"You're a fool." The words flew from his mouth, so sharp that Ziva winced. He had not sworn at her, not beaten her with fists, nor shot any weapon, but it hurt just as much, maybe even more, than if he had. "You don't know anything." And with that, he strode towards the door, trying to leave the cabin. Ziva didn't say anything. She knew it would be easier if they were not in the same cramped, hot cabin together. But the door suddenly swung open and Astrid rushed in again, accompanied by several of the Village Elders, many of the residents of Haven, and Abby.

Within seconds, Tony and Ziva were swallowed up by a crowd of concerned, eager to help people. Ziva wanted to scream, all she really wanted to have some space, to be alone. But the next two hours were devoted to being interrogated by the Village Elders, who demanded her story several times over and over again. She wondered if they thought she was lying, that the snake hadn't really shied away from her skin. Eventually, though they pronounced her fine, and asked that she go back to her cabin for some well deserved rest.

As Ziva walked out the door, she tried to lock eyes with Abby, but already the goth was trying to make her way through the crowd. As Ziva followed her path, she realized that she was trying to make her way to Tony. Suddenly Tony's eyes caught hers, and they both stared at each other for a moment. This wasn't one of charged, meaningful looks that they had given each hours and days before. Tony's eyes were now hard, although Ziva knew that hurt lay underneath. She purposely made her expression blank, so he could read nothing of it, not even from her eyes. They stared into each others eyes for a moment, but then somebody from the crowd accidentally pushed into Ziva and she was thrust out the door.

Walking along the path back to her cabin, Ziva tried to tell herself that she had been doing the right thing, that she was right to focus on her job right now, and deal with her personal life later… But deep down she knew she was just trying to cover for her own cowardice, for her fear of love. That was why, when she heard the sobbing, she did not react instantly. She was heartbroken, and although she know she would not, could not cry, she didn't immediately distinguish between her pain and the one in the sobs. Eventually, though, the knowledge slowly crept into her, and she began to follow the soft, high hiccupping gasps she heard. She walked for a short period of time before she found Astrid curled up under a tree trunk, head in her hands and body hidden by the drooping leaves and branches of the tree.

"Astrid?" She said, as gently as she could.

"Ziva?" Astrid's head jerked out of her hands and whipped up to meet Ziva's. "Oh, Ziva, I'm so sorry to be doing this!" She spread her hands helplessly, her eyes a red, soggy mess. "After what you and Tony have been through, this is the last thing you need. But, it's just so horrible…"

"Astrid, is there anything I can do to help you?" Ziva felt empathy for the tiny woman, who had been through so much to help Tony and Ziva. She had been the kindest resident of Haven that Ziva had met yet, always willing to lend information or a helping hand.

"It's – it's just that everything is so messed up!" Astrid wailed. "Everything that's happened! You being thrown off a cliff, you and Tony almost drowning, and now there's – there's this poisonous snake in your room!"

"It's going to be okay, Astrid." Ziva knelt down to where the younger woman was sitting, trying to reassure her.

"No, it's not!" She wailed again, throwing her head back into her hands. Ziva felt a brief flash of annoyance, but then remembered the way she had looked at Tony when he had first arrived. And then, just hours ago, she had caught them kissing – and almost more – on his bed. She felt slight pity for the girl. She had only been a minor flirtation for Tony, Ziva knew that he had never meant to hurt her, but after Ziva had nearly drowned, all his attention had become focused on her.

_And what if someone else gets hurt, and he focuses on them. I'll be just like Astrid. I can't let that happen._ Ziva tried to make a good excuse in her head, but she secretly knew that Tony would never simply forget her the way he had forgot Astrid. He hadn't given Astrid that same loving, caring look he had given Ziva just hours before.

A loud sob awoke Ziva from her thoughts and made her stare at the younger woman again. Astrid barely knew them, but already she had gone for help in two dangerous situations, putting herself in danger to keep Tony and Ziva safe. A tiny thought began to make its way into Ziva mind, and she wondered if Astrid wouldn't be willing to put her life on the line for Ziva, just one more time.

She cleared her throat and attempted to use the softest voice she could. "Do you really want Tony and I to be safe, Astrid? Do you want Haven to be safe once again?"

"Of course I do!" Astrid said, lifting her head out of her hands one more time.

"Then I need your help, Astrid." Ziva said in a low whisper, not sure of who might be watching now. "There is someone here that doesn't want Tony and I to survive to find out what's going on. The incident this morning just shows that we can't stay here by ourselves and figure out what's going on. Astrid, I need your help to get to the nearest city so I can contact Gibbs and tell him to bring assistance.

"But couldn't you just call him?" Astrid asked, beginning to sit up in interest.

"My cell phone, and Tony's, was destroyed when we fell into the river, remember?"

"And nobody else here has a phone." Astrid said. "Not even that new camper. It wasn't in her supplies. She said she lost it coming in." As Astrid said something else, but it was drowned out by the cursing in Ziva's head at Vance for letting Abby come without a cell phone. But if everything went well, in just a short time she wouldn't have to worry about Abby's safety here anymore.

"Can I count on you, Astrid?" Ziva put her hand forward, asking for her loyalty. Astrid took it rapidly and shook it.

"Is Tony coming with you, too?" She asked.

"No! Um, no." Ziva replied. "He needs to stay here and guard Haven." Truthfully, Ziva needed to leave him to watch Abby and make sure she was unharmed. She also didn't want to talk to Tony for many, many days. With any luck, Ziva would be so quick in getting to the nearest town and back that he wouldn't even notice she was gone.

"Alright then. It's just us." Astrid said. She stood up and brushed the leaves off of her dress. "Let's get started."


	9. Chapter 9: Fight and Flight

**Hey there! Again, sorry about how long it has taken me to update this story. My computer has been giving me some problems, so bear with me here.**

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_So much had changed, and so abruptly. It made me feel a little bit dizzy, like I was standing on an edge, a precipice somewhere much too high._

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* * *

_

Ziva shifted restlessly in her bed. Despite the fact that she was currently lying in a warm feather bed with a bitter night wind blowing restlessly, all she wished to do was to start her journey into town. She and Astrid had made all the necessary preparations, and Ziva had initially wanted to go tonight, but Astrid had convinced her to hold off for one more night. She had claimed that it would be better for Ziva to leave during the day, when an attack on her or Tony was less likely. It also gave them a reasonable excuse to be gone for the day. The plan was for Astrid to tell the Village Elders that she was going with Ziva to check out all the possible places that the emerald eyed snakes would dwell, hoping that Ziva and Tony's tormentor would be close by. Ziva would say that she needed Astrid as a guide for the land, and that the mission would be strictly surveillance, thereby calming all fears for Astrid's safety.

But for now, Ziva simply had to lay back in bed, relax and – What was that? Ziva tensed, and then relaxed as she realized that it was simply a tree branch cracking in the wind. She sighed. Her Mossad training could kick in at the most inconvenient times, overanalyzing every little sound she heard. In Mossad and NCIS, where every little move or sound could mean the loss of lives, it would have done her well. But out here, in the middle of nowhere, with all of nature surrounding her, it made it impossible for Ziva to get any decent sleep. The only time she had been able to sleep well was when she had been right next to Tony –

'_No. No, do not think about that.' _She commanded herself. Luckily, the planning with Astrid had taken up most of her day, so she was able to put her thoughts somewhere else than her ill placed moment of passion with Tony, and the argument that had come afterwards. But even for all her distractions, Ziva couldn't help but notice that Tony hadn't stopped by her cabin to talk, something he had done every day since they had arrived here. She wanted to convince herself that he was simply still talking with Abby, but knew that wasn't the real reason for his sudden disappearance from her daily routine. She had knew that he wouldn't have come to see her today, but still, she hoped.

She was still unsuccessfully trying not to think about Tony minutes later, which was why she was so startled when the men ripped open the door and pounded into the room. She threw back the covers and jumped up. Ziva could tell by these men's postures and actions that they did not mean to inform her of another incident in Haven, they meant to attack.

Right as her feet hit the floor, the first man reached her and opened his arms to grab her. Her kick in the chest hit him so hard that he flew back to hit the wall, and slumped to the floor, unmoving. This seemed to be the cue for the rest of the men, as they lunged towards her. As Ziva fought off the men, she noticed that while they had brawn and size on their side, they did not fight skillfully. Instead, they fought like amateurs. Still, they were good enough to leave her sweating and panting after she had thrown the last man to the floor. But she could not rest. If these men had wanted her out of the way, no doubt they had given a visit to her partner, too.

'_Tony,'_ she thought, as a slight sliver of fear allowed itself to worm its way into her mind. She pulled on her running shoes, picked up her gun and grabbed a warm jacket from where it lay discarded on a chair. She began to run out of the cabin, only to trip and fall. She looked down and found her feet tangled in one of her would be attackers' cloak. Giving a quick look around the room as she ran out of it, she now saw that all of her attackers were wearing black cloaks. She had been so focused on fighting them off that she hadn't noticed what they were wearing. Now, as she sprinted toward Tony's cabin, only just a few footsteps away, did she wonder why someone who wanted to harm a federal officer would wear something so foolish as a cloak. While the cloaks' hoods made it difficult for Ziva to see who was attacking her, the cloaks were also long and tended to get tangled up in the owner's arms and legs. Maybe her assailants thought it would be an easy mission? Well, they were wrong, as their unconscious bodies clearly testified.

She reached the door of Tony's cabin, but before she could pull it open, she heard a loud crashing sound come from inside. Fear raced through her. Like herself, Tony's attackers did not have head injures or hurt arms like he did from falling into the waterfall. They also had the element of surprise, as Tony did not share Ziva's instincts. Adrenaline and terror now pumping through her veins, Ziva flung open the door.

* * *

Lying in his bed, staring up at the ceiling, Tony didn't understand where it all had gone wrong. When exactly had he given Ziva the impression that rescuing her was solely for his own benefit? Did she think it would make it him feel more manly, make him get more points with the boss? That was a lost cause. Gibbs was never going to forgive him after finding out just how badly this mission was going…

But why had she run away like that? She had kissed him, and kissed him first, after all. It wasn't like he had forced himself on her, and he _had_ been the one who had wanted to stop. Maybe that was it, maybe Ziva thought that he didn't like her, had gotten embarrassed, and made up some excuse to leave. Great, the one time he tried to be respectful, it ended up backfiring. Just his luck. Well then, tomorrow morning he was going to have to go down to Ziva's cabin and explain everything to her. That would work… He settled back in his blankets, temporarily satisfied with this solution, and began to drift off into a peaceful sleep…

BANG. The door crashed open. Oh right, he forgot, the universe seemed to like beating the crap out of him today.

He jumped out of bed and smashed his fist into the large man that had coming running towards his bed. The man fell to the floor, grabbing Tony's leg on the way down. He dragged Tony to the floor, trying to roll him to the ground and pin him there. When Tony resisted, the man smashed his hand against the spot in his arm that had gotten hit by the rock days before. His shoulder and arm suddenly felt like they were in fire, and Tony felt his grip on the man weaken. The man tried once again to smash Tony to the floor. But Tony grabbed the man's head and slammed it against the hard wooden floor. He stood up, feeling slightly triumphant, only to see five more huge, burly men coming straight for him.

Somewhere, he was sure, the universe was laughing its ass off.

* * *

"Tony!" Ziva ran into the cabin to find Tony struggling with a man similar to her own: large, well muscled and wearing a black cloak. Four of his comrades lay on the floor, "down for the count" as Tony would have said. But one of them had Tony pinned up against the wall, his hand closing unmercilessly against Tony's throat. In the bright moonlight, she could see her partner's face was already a dark shade of purple. Fortunately, the man had turned when Ziva ran in, giving her a split second advantage. She used this to its full capacity, leaping at the man and tackling him to the floor. She slammed his head against the floor and his body relaxed, unconsciousness taking him.

"Ehh…" Ziva turned to her partner, who had slid to the floor, his back against the wall for support. He was massaging his throat and taking deep, gasping breaths of air. Ziva could now see why the men had almost been able to beat him: the cut on his head from his encounter with the river rock had been reopened. She also noticed that he was cradling his right arm close to his side. She felt a rush of anger at Tony's attackers for aiming at those easy spots. Cowards.

"Are you alright?" Tony nodded in the affirmative.

"Good, because we have to start moving." She gathered up Tony's stray gun, jacket, flashlight, tennis shoes and a water bottle that was lying out, and tossed them to him.

"Why?" He rasped. "Shouldn't we just wait for help?"

"Tony, help isn't coming." Ziva looked into his eyes grimly. "Those people were members of Haven."

"What? Are you positive?" Tony asked.

"Yes. Tony, we have been here for many days and have not seen one person that was not part of Haven anywhere, barring Abby. I can believe that one person could have missed our and Haven's constant attempts at surveillance. But a whole group of people? No. These were people of Haven." To make her point, Ziva pulled the hood of the man who had been strangling Tony, off. While she wasn't surprised to see a member of Haven, she was saddened by the fact that the man who had saved Tony's life, Langston, had now just tried to take it away. Judging by his face, so was Tony.

"I can't believe it," he croaked. But as the full implications of what was happening dawned on him, he recovered from his shock in a second, springing to life. In less than a minute his jacket was on, his gun clipped to his side, and he was creeping to the door with Ziva. Her hand had just touched the doorknob when they heard voices and footsteps on the other side of the doorway.

"Someone's coming." Ziva's whispered urgently. Tony grabbed her arm and hauled her away from the door to the darkest corner of the cabin. They hid there for a moment, ready for an attack, before realizing no one was going to burst in on them. Yet. The voices were still close and urgent.

"They must be going to my cabin first." Ziva whispered. She felt a tap on her shoulder, and Tony silently made the motion to go over to the window, their only possible escape route now. She nodded and they ran swiftly over to it, making no noise at all.

Tony knelt down and put his hands together to make a foothold for Ziva, who hesitated. "Are you sure I should be going first? You do have a hurt shoulder…" But Tony simply rolled his eyes and gestured impatiently. Finally, Ziva slid her foot into his hands and reached up to the window. Trying to ignore Tony's agonized grimace down below, she wrenched open the window, and heard it squeak loudly. Both Tony's frantic breathing and her own short spurts stopped for a minute, and then began again when they realized that no one had heard it. Breathing a sigh of relief, Ziva began to fall out the window. Then felt her breath leave her again as she looked down while she fell.

Instead of being flat ground as she and Tony had predicted, the ground below the window fell away to a sharp incline, sending Ziva falling much longer than she thought. She curled herself up into a ball as she fell to avoid breaking her neck, and landed roughly below. Uncurling herself, she found that besides a few scrapes and scratches, she was unharmed. Just as she was getting her wits back, a large thump to her right signaled that Tony had found his way down – and it hadn't been as easy or graceful as hers. She ran over to him and found him lying face down. Flipping him over, she noted with relief that he was still breathing, albeit a hard and short pattern of breaths, and that he appeared to be conscious.

"Tony. Tony!" She said, lightly slapping his face, causing his eyes to flicker open. "Are you okay?"

"I'd give my dive a 5 and yours a 9. I would have made it a 10, but I had to take off points to switching the routine halfway through." He panted, still trying to reclaim his breath.

"You-" But Ziva was cut off by voices from up above. It appeared that their mysterious assailants had entered Tony's cabin – and were not happy by what they saw. She and Tony could hear their voices clearly.

"10 of our best fighters, and they take them out like it's no problem." Ziva saw Tony's grimace of pain at the comment, noticing how his eyes strayed up to his bloody forehead.

"What do we do now?"

"Hey! The window's open?"

"They must've gone out that and into the woods!"

"Do you think we should go look for them?" Ziva felt her body tense at those words. She did not know how many people there were, and she wasn't sure how many more she could take on by herself. Tony was in no condition to fight, no matter how much he kept up his banter.

"No. Who knows how far they could have gone by now." Ziva heard Tony's soft laughter.

"Idiots." He muttered.

"We should go back and get more help. Bring out the dogs and everything." Ziva felt fear shoot through her. The voices faded away as they left the cabin to go get more people. As soon as she could hear no more, she turned back down to Tony.

"We have to run." She whispered.

"Run where?" Tony asked. "The path to the main road requires going right through the heart of Haven, and I don't exactly think we'll be welcome there."

"Then we need to go into the forest and find shelter. We'll figure out a plan from there." Ziva said. Tony nodded, and slowly began to stand up. Ziva slid an arm under his and let him lean on her as they began to make their way into the woods.

"Wait." Ziva stopped. Something had just occurred to her and she felt guilty for not thinking about it sooner. "What about Abby?"

"Don't worry. She only managed to pass me a note today, but she thinks her cover is still in place. Also, she does have a cell phone that she hid away from everybody at Haven, so if there's trouble, an ass kicking from Gibbs is only a phone call away."

"Then why don't we just go to her?" Ziva asked, trying to turn around. Tony managed to stop her.

"Right now we're only worried that she's in danger. But if we go up to her cabin for help, we really will put her in danger, and we don't know what these people are capable of yet."

"You're right." Ziva nodded. "Right now we need to go into the forest and make our shelter. We need to be so deep that even they can't find us." She glanced sideways at Tony with concern. "Can you do that?"

"Count me in." Tony gave her a quick grin which turned into a grimace as they began to walk forward. "So how did they know we were going to be here, anyway?" He wondered out loud.

"Astrid." Ziva muttered. She had known the answer from the first moment that the men had come bursting through her door. She had understood this would be the last night to attack Tony and Ziva without worrying about help coming, thanks to Ziva. Thank goodness she at least hadn't told her about Abby. "When I get my hands on that little-"

"Astrid? Well, nothing surprises me at this point." Tony said. "But why tonight?"

"You should probably focus on your hiking, and let me do the talking." Ziva said, looking for anything to take Tony's mind off the pain. "I owe you a large explanation."


	10. Chapter 10: In Sickness and Death

Ahem... Yes, I am very late in updating. But I've had a lot on my plate, and I was suffering from some writers block. Anyways, here's the next chapter!

* * *

"You were going to leave Haven and contact Gibbs without me? What, you don't trust me?" Tony said furiously to Ziva. She had explained everything to him as they walked through the murky woods. Afterwards, he had remained quiet for hours, thinking. Finally, he had spoken up.

"I thought that someone was needed to protect Abby." She said, avoiding his gaze. "What if this had happened to Abby, and nobody was there to protect her?"

"Well, it seems like she's in that situation, anyway. Let's just hope nobody in Haven catches on to who she really is." Tony stopped talking for a moment and then turned his head towards hers. "Are you sure this isn't because we.. you know, fought after...?"

"No." Ziva forced herself to look straight ahead.

"Then why didn't you tell me about your plan?" Tony asked, stumbling on a tree root. She caught him by the sleeve and pulled him up before he could fall again.

"I didn't have the time!" She said. "Astrid and I made those plans while you were still getting interrogated by the Elders."

"You could have come by later." Tony said. "I've stopped by your cabin every night since we've been in Haven, you know you could have come by my cabin."

"I - I was tired." Ziva said. Tony scoffed.

"Ninjas don't get tired." He said. Ziva could tell he was trying to be as lighthearted as possible, but she saw the hurt on his face.

"Listen Tony I -" But then she broke off as she heard something, secretly glad for the distraction. She wasn't exactly sure what she had been about to say.

"What's wrong?" He asked, but she put her hand over his mouth. A few seconds later, the voices she had heard before came back, but much louder this time.

"I thought I heard someone over here." Astrid. Ziva was half tempted to stay and release some of her frustration and anger on her betrayer, but thought better of it as she heard other voices, just as close as Astrid's was. Silently, she grabbed Tony's hand in her own and pulled him forward. The two began to try and run as silently as they could - not an easy feat with leaves crunching beneath their every step. But no matter how far they ran, it seemed like Astrid was right behind them. Suddenly, Tony lost his footing and stumbled onto the rough forest floor. Ziva reached down and swung an arm around his broad shoulders. She helped pull him back up, and they struggled to their feet. Ziva glanced behind her and saw a streak of what looked like silk moonlight darting towards them. She felt her blood run cold and pushed Tony forward.

"Run." She said simply. They abandoned all pretense and crashed through the forest, which seemed to be rebelling against them. Tree branches rippled through Ziva's hair and clothes and tree roots snagged at her feet, making her trip, constantly on the verge of falling down completely. Ziva and Tony ran through the forest, staying on no path, trying their hardest to loose Astrid. Only when Ziva wondered how they were staying together did she realize that they had clasped hands. Finally, Ziva turned around and saw no one behind them, no streak of moonlight or flash of bright green eyes.

"It's - it's okay. I think we lost them." Ziva said, bending over and clutching her side. She had never felt so tired in her life. She was sure it had already been at least five hours that they had been trekking through the woods, and then they had been running from Astrid for at least half an hour. That, combined with the fact that she had gotten no sleep due to the fact that she had been attacked in her cabin made her want to lay down on the soft ground and pass out.

"Are you sure?" From the sound of his voice, Ziva could tell that Tony thought the same way. She turned to look at him and felt her mouth drop open. Tony's face was a clammy and an unearthly pale color, and he was leaning against a huge boulder, struggling to keep himself up.

"Tony, are you okay?" Ziva asked, trying to keep her voice clam and steady. He nodded, incapable of expressing words at the moment, but he slid down the boulder until he was sitting on the ground.

"I'm sorry. Just give me a minute to rest." He whispered, his eyes already closed. Ziva touched a hand to his forehead, he didn't stir. His head moist and clammy to the touch, leaving Ziva wondering what was wrong with him. There hadn't been much that they hadn't both been through that week, and Ziva looked to be much better off than Tony. They had both nearly drowned, had nearly been attacked by a deadly snake, and had fallen out of a window several feet below, just hours ago. What was it that was making Tony so - And then Ziva felt her entire body, not just her blood, run cold. The plague. That damn plague that had nearly killed Tony before she had even had a chance to meet him. Tony had been in the water for so long, it had taken him more time to recover from its effects - and it wold be just like Tony not to mention that he was ill to her. Whatever anyone could say about Tony, he was not a weakling, and he hated to be thought of such. He didn't express pain when could afford not to.

Ziva knew that she couldn't move Tony again. As she gazed upon her motionless partner, she sent up a prayer to whoever might be listening, whether it was a higher power, or Gibbs with his gut, to help them get out of this situation.

* * *

Gibbs was steadfastly carving away at his boat when his cell phone rang. He looked at the caller I.D. and saw Ducky's name. He frowned, hoping nothing else was wrong this week.

"What's up, Duck?" He asked, flipping open the phone.

"Ah, Jethro. You need to come in quick. Please call in Timothy, too."

"What's so bad that it needs to be taken care of at three in the morning?"

"Our dear Abigail has called. She needs help."

* * *

Tony awoke to something warm on his face. For a moment, he though he was back in his bed, his warm sheets pressed tight to him, and flames crackling in the fireplace. He felt a flow of contentment, which vanished when he heard Ziva swear. He opened his eyes and tried to sit up, looking around.

He was still leaning against the boulder, which he noticed was damp and cold. The woods seemed to have grown even darker, or maybe that was because the trees blocked the moon and stars. A small fire was burning next to him, with Ziva feeding it twigs and branches.

"How are you?" She asked him, concern written all over her face.

"Fine." He murmured. "Bu - yo shouldn't have a fire...going" His voice trailed off and he closed his eyes, exhausted with even the smallest movement. "It'll attract attention. Astrid will see it."

"I know. Ziva muttered anxiously. "But you were so cold - and I couldn't think of anything else to keep you warm."

"Anything?" Tony mumbled, trying to waggle his eyebrows. But he felt a stab of guilt shoot through him. Ziva shouldn't be risking capture just because of him.

"You need a sleeping bag for that, Tony." Ziva rolled her eyes and shoved another twig into the fire.

"Well maybe if it rains sleeping bags you'll get lucky." Tony laughed, but began to cough harshly. Ziva grabbed him and helped him set up against the rock.

"Another movie?" She asked, her voice barely covering up her worry. Tony felt another twinge of guilt.

"Nope. TV series." He answered, "X-Files. You've never seen it? Well, Mulder and Skully get lost in this forest and -" He began to cough again, and felt his eyes droop shut. "I'll tell you later."

He heard Ziva utter a low oath as he drifted off into sleep.

* * *

Ziva looked with worry on the sleeping Tony. He obviously couldn't travel anymore, and she wouldn't leave without him. That part wasn't even debatable. She would just have to find a way out of this situation with some other resolution besides running away.

She carefully laid out everything she and Tony had: their guns, her knife (she had only had one on her before sprinting to Tony's cabin), a bottle full of warm water, Tony's flashlight, and his old cell phone that she had found in his jacket pocket, put there out of routine, not purpose. At first her heart leaped upon seeing it, but she quickly realized that "water proof" didn't apply to being tossed around in the river. She had turned it on, and for a quick moment it had blinked and she had felt such a strong relief that it almost knocked off her feet. Then it abruptly died with a little whining sound, and the panic that followed was even greater than the relief. Tony was rapidly declining and Ziva wasn't sure how long he could hold on without seeing a doctor. She could try to make him more comfortable, though.

She grabbed the bottom of her jacket and ripped off a piece, gently wetting it with the warm water. She wiped the dirt and sweat off Tony's face with it, grateful that Tony wasn't awake to see this and rub it in. If he ever found out about this, he would never let her live it down.

Finished, she leaned back, her body balanced on the balls of her feet. She took a quick glance at the fire, and saw that it seemed well enough for the moment. With nothing else to do, Ziva leaned back and settled herself against Tony's chest, deciding to keep watch. But soon her eyes began to flutter shut against her will and her head lolled down onto Tony's chest...

* * *

_Ziva was running, running through the forest. Behind the large trees, where there should have been night sky, was nothing but a clear white light. The light made the trees out to be thick dark shapes, showing dark against light, morbid and surreal. Suddenly a dark shadow moved against the light, hiding from one tree to the next. _

_Her breath came in short gasps, her eyes straining to find something, anything, that could be used to get her away from here... She ran, her muscles bursting and her lungs aching, but she saw nothing but trees. She finally stopped, and she looked around frantically, feeling like something was missing. Then it hit her._

_"Tony!" She yelled out, gazing around. The dark figure moved to another tree, but there was no sign of Tony. She walked forward and stumbled over a root. She struggled to her feet, but when she looked down, she saw the root had wrapped around her ankle. She reached down to pull it off, but another root shot up and twisted itself around her back, pulling her down. More roots rose up and wound themselves around her ankles, wrists, neck, pulling her until she was bowed down, unable to move._

_Looking down at the forest floor, she saw leaves moving and heard footsteps approaching. She looked up to see a huge beast in front of her, saliva dripping from its mouth, landing just inches from her face. The beast raised a huge paw and Ziva thought it was going to kill her before it eat her, but instead it simply pointed up to the trees. Ziva looked up and screamed. _

_Tony's dead body was hanging from the trees. _

_

* * *

_

"NO!" Ziva woke up and looked around her. Tony was lying against the boulder, just as before she had went to sleep. Hesitantly, she felt for a pulse and breathed out when she saw felt him beating steadily, even if slightly less strongly than what she would be comfortable with. She shivered, partly from the idea of Tony's heartbeat getting any weaker, and partly from the cold wind that blew through her jacket. She glanced towards the fire, and saw that it was down to a few smoldering flames and ashes. She frowned and looked towards Tony. She bent down and patted his cheek.

"I need to leave to get more firewood. Will you be alright? I'm leaving your gun and water with you." All she got was a incoherent mumble, but she had a feeling it was the best she was going to get.

She started out towards the trees, her gun in one hand and flashlight in the other. She had only got a few feet when she saw a bright light shining behind a tree. Bright, white, shining...

Astrid!

Ziva reached for her gun, but a strong hand grabbed hers, twisting it behind her back. She wound a leg around her attacker and thrust her head back, breaking their nose and tripping them all in the same turn. But just as their body fell to the ground, arms wound their way around her body, crushing her to someone's chest. She squirmed out of their grip, and attacked them too. They fell, and someone else came forward to take their spot. Faces were all blurred together by the firelight and adrenaline. She tried to keep moving, to keep not let them box her in, but eventually they formed a circle around her. Large arms grabbed her, lifted her above their head and threw her to the ground. She tried to get up, but she was forced back down the hands and by her body's own limitations. But through her bruised eye and blood, she could see Astrid's grinning face a she walked forward to meet her.


End file.
